2006年12月大学英语六级(CET-6)真题(A卷)(含答案、听力原文)(打印版)

1、 PAGE 132006 年 12 月 24 日大学英语六级 (CET-6) 真题试卷 (A 卷) 新Part I Writing (30 minutes)30 minutesat least 150The Importance of Reading Classics阅读经典书籍对人的成长至关重要现在愿意阅读经典的人却越来越少，原因是我们大学生应该怎么做Part II Reading Comprehension (Skimming and Scanning) (15 minutes)Space TourismMake your reservations now. The space touri

2、sm industryis officiallyopen for business, and tickets are going fora mere $20 millionfora one-week stay in space. Despite reluctance from National Air and Space Administration (NASA)，Russia made American businessman Dennis Tito the world ?s firstspace tourist. Tito flew into space aboard a Russian

3、Soyuz rocket that arrived at the InternationalSpace Station (ISS)on April30, 2001. Thesecond space tourist,South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth, took off aboard the Russian Soyuz on April 25, 2002, also bound for the ISS.Lance Bass of ,N Sync was supposed to be the third to make the $20 milli

4、on trip, but he did not join the three-man crew as they blasted off on October 30, 2002, due to lack of payment. Probably the most incredible aspect of this proposed space tour was that NASA approved of it.These trips are the beginning of what could be a profitable21st century industry. There are al

5、ready several space tourism companies planning to build suborbital vehicles and orbital cities within the next two decades. These companies have invested millions,believingthat the space tourism industry is on the verge of taking off.In 1997, NASApublished a report concluding that selling trips into

6、 space to private citizens could be worth billions of dollars. A Japanese report supports these findings, and projects that space tourism could be a $10 billion per year industry within the next two decades. The only obstacles to openingup space to touristsare the space agencies, whoare concerned wi

7、thsafety and the development of a reliable, reusable launch vehicle.Space AccommodationsRussia?s Mirspace station was supposed to be the first destination for space tourists. But in March 2001 ， the Russian Aerospace Agency brought Mir down into the Pacific Ocean. As it turned out, bringing down Mir

8、 only temporarily delayed the first tourist trip into space.The Mir crash did cancel plans for a new reality-based game show from NBC, which was goingtobe called DestinationMir.The Survivor-likeTVshowwas scheduled to airinfall2001,Participants on the show were to go through training at Russia ?s cos

9、monaut (宇航员 ) training center, Star City. Each week, one of the participants would be eliminated from the show, with the winner receiving a trip to the Mir space station. The Mir crash has ruled out NBC ?s space plans for now. NASA is against beginning space tourism until the International Space Sta

10、tion is completed in 2006.Russia is not alone in its interest in space tourism. There are several projects underway to commercialize space travel. Here are a few of the groups that might take tourists to space:Space Island Group is going to build a ring-shaped, rotating “commercial space infrastruct

11、ure(基础结构 )”that willresemble the Discoveryspacecraft in the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey.”Space Island says it will build its space city out of empty NASA space-shuttle fuel tanks (to start, it should take around 12 or so), and place it about 400 miles above Earth. The space city will rotate once pe

12、r minute to create a gravitational pull one-third as strong as Earth ?s.According to their vision statement. Space Adventures plans to“fly tens of thousand of people in space over the next 10-15 years and beyond, around the moon, and back, from spaceports both on Earth and in space, to and from priv

13、ate space stations, and board dozen of different vehicles .”Even Hilton Hotels has shown interest in the space tourism industry and possibility of buildingor co-funding a space hotel. However, the company did say that it believes such a space hotel is 15 to 20 years away.Initially,space tourismwillo

14、ffersimpleaccommodationsatbest.Forinstance, ifthe International Space Station is used as a tourist attraction, guests won ?t find the luxurious surroundings of a hotel room on Earth. It has been designed for conducting research, not entertainment. However,the first generation of space hotels should

15、offer tourists a much more comfortable experience.In regard to a concept for a space hotel initially planned by Space Island, such a hotel could offer guests every convenience they might find at a hotel on Earth, and some they might not. The small gravitational pull created by the rotating space cit

16、y would allow space-tourists and residents to walk around and function facilities would be possible. Additionally, space tourists would even be able to take space walks.Many of these companies believe that they have to offer an extremely enjoyable experience in order for passengers to pay thousands,

17、 if not millions,of dollars to ride into space. So willspace create another separation between the haves and have-nots?The Most Expensive VacationWill space be an exotic retreat reserved for only the wealthy? Or will middle-class folks have a chance to take their families to space? Make no mistake a

18、bout it, going to space willbe the most expensive vacation you ever take. Prices right now are in the tens of millions of dollars. Currently, the only vehicles that can take you into space are the space shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, both of which are terriblyinefficient.Each spacecraft requires mil

19、lionsof pounds of fuel to take off into space, which makes them expensive to launch. One pound ofpayload ( 有效载重 ) costs about $10,000 to put into Earth ?s orbit.NASA and Lockheed Martin are currently developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch space plane, called the VentureStar, that could be launche

20、d for about a tenth of what the space shuttle costs to launch. If the VentureStar takes off, the number of people who could afford to take a trip into space would move into the millions.In1998, a jointreportfromNASAand the Space TransportationAssociationstated that improvements in technology could p

21、ush fares for space travel as low as $50,000, and possibly downto $20,000 or $10,000 a decade later. The report concluded that a ticket price of $50,000, there could be 500,000 passengers flying into space each year. While still leaving out many people, these prices would open up space to a tremendo

22、us amount of traffic.Since the beginning of the space race, the general public has said,when“doIsnI ?t that greatget to go?” Well, our chance might be closer than ever. Within the next 20 years, space planes could be taking off for the Moon at the same frequency as airplanes flyingbetween New York a

23、nd Los Angles.Lance Bass wasn?t able to go on a tour of space because of health problems.Several tourism companies believe space travel is going to be a new profitable industry.The space agencies are reluctant to open up space to tourists.Two Australian billionaireshave been placed on the waiting li

24、st for entering space as private passengers.The price for the winner in the fall 2001 NBA TV game show would have been.Hilton Hotels believes it won?t be long before it is possible to build a.In order for space tourists to walk around and function normally, it is necessary for the space city to crea

25、te a.What making going to space the most expensive vacation is the enormous cost involvedin .Each year 500,000 space tourists could be flying into space if ticket prices could be lowered to .Within the next two decades,could be as intercity air travel.Part III Listening Comprehension (35 minutes)Sec

26、tion AA) Dr. Smith ?s waiting room isn ?t tidy.Dr. Smith enjoys reading magazines.Dr. Smith has left a good impression on her.Dr. Smith may not be a good choice.A) The man will rent the apartment when it is available.The man made a bargain with the landlady over the rent.The man insists on having a

27、look at the apartment first.The man is not fully satisfied with the apartment.A) Packing up to go abroad.Drawing up a plan for her English course.Brushing up on her English.Applying for a visa to the United Sates.A) He is anxious to find a cure for his high blood pressure.He doesn ?t think high bloo

28、d pressure is a problem for him.He was not aware of his illness until diagnosed with it.He did not take the symptoms of his illness seriously.A) To investigate the cause of AIDS.To raise money for AIDS patients.To rally support for AIDS victims in Africa.To draw attention to the spread of AIDS in As

29、ia.A) It has a very long history.It is a private institution.It was founded by Thomas Jefferson.It stresses the comprehensive study of nature.A) They can ?t fit into the machine.They have not been delivered yet.They were sent to the wrong address.They were found to be of the wrong type.A) The food s

30、erved in the cafeteria usually lacks variety.The cafeteria sometimes provides rare food for the students.The students find the service in the cafeteria satisfactory.D) The cafeteria tries hard to cater to the students ?needs.Questions 19 to 2219.A) He picked up some apples in his yard.He cut some br

31、anches off the apple tree.He quarreled with his neighbor over the fence.He cleaned up all the garbage in the woman ?s yard.A) Trim the apple trees in her yard.Pick up the apples that fell in her yard.Take the garbage to the curb for her.Remove the branches from her yard.A) File a lawsuit against the

32、 man.Ask the man for compensation.Have the man ?s apple tree cut down.Throw garbage into the man ?s yard.A) He was ready to make a concession.He was not intimidated.He was not prepared to go to court.He was a bit concerned.Questions 23 to 25A) Bad weather.Breakdown of the engines.Human error.Failure

33、 of the communications system.A) Two thousand feet.Twenty thousand feet.Twelve thousand feet.Twenty-two thousand feet.A) Accurate communication is of utmost importance.Pilots should be able to speak several foreign languages.Air controllers should keep a close watch on the weather.Cooperation betwee

34、n pilots and air controllers is essential.Section BPassage OneQuestions 26 to 28A) His father caught a serious disease.His mother passed away.His mother left him to marry a rich businessman.His father took to drinking.A) He disliked being disciplined.He couldn ?t pay his gambling debts.He was expell

35、ed by the university.He enjoyed working for a magazine.A) His poems are heavily influenced by French writers.His stories are mainly set in the State of Virginia.His work difficult to read.Hid language is not refined.A) He grieved to death over the loss of his wife.He committed suicide for unknown re

36、asons.He was shot dead at the age of 40.He died of heavy drinking.Passage TwoQuestions 30 to 3230.A) Women.B) Manual workers.C) Prisoners.D) School age children.A) He taught his students how to pronounce the letters first.He matched the letters with the sounds familiar to the learners.He showed the

37、learners how to combine the letters into simple words.He divided the letters into groups according to the way they are written.A) It can help people to become literate within a short time.It was originally designed for teaching the English language.It enables the learners to master a language within

38、 three months.It is effective in teaching any alphabetical language to Brazilians.Passage ThreeQuestions 33 to 3533.A) The crop ?s blooming period is delayed.The roots of crops are cut off.The topsoil is seriously damaged.The growth of weeds is accelerated.A) It ?s a new way of applying chemical fer

39、tilizer.It ?s an improved method of harvesting crops.It ?s an creative technique for saving labor.It ?s a farming process limiting the use of ploughs.A) In areas with few weeds and unwanted plants.In areas with a severs shortage of water.In areas lacking in chemical fertilizer.In areas dependent on

40、imported food.Section CAdults are getting smarter about how smart babies are. Not long ago, researchers learned that 4-day-olds could understand (36)and subtraction. Now, British research (37) Graham Schafer has discovered that infants can learn words for uncommon things long before theycan speak. H

41、e found that 9-month-old infants could be taught, through repeated show-and-tell, to (38) the names of objects that were foreign to them, a result that (39)in some ways the received (40)that, apart from learning to (41)things common to their dailylives,childrendon?t begin to buildvocabularyuntilwell

42、intotheirsecond year. “It?s no (42) that childrenlearn words, but the words they tend to knoware wordslinked to (43) situations in the home,”explains Schafer. “(44) with an unfamiliar voice giving instructions in an unfamiliar setting.”Figuring out how humans acquire language may shed light on why s

43、ome children learn to readand write later than others, Schafer says, and could lead to better treatments fordevelopmental problems. (45) . “Language is a test case for human cognitive development, ” says Schafer. Butparents eager toteach theirinfantsshouldtakenote (46) . “This is not about advancing

44、 development, ”he says. “It ?sjust about what children can do at an earlier age than what educators have often thought. ”Part IV Reading Comprehension (25 minutes)Section AQuestions 47 to 51I?ve heard from and talked to many people who described how Mother Nature simplified theirlives for them. They

45、 ?d lost their home and many or all of their possessions through fires, floods, earthquakes, or some other disaster. Losing everything you own under such circumstances can be distressing, but the people I ?ve heard from all saw their loss, ultimately as a blessing.“The fire saved us the agony of dec

46、iding what to keep and what to get rid of,”one woman wrote. And once all those things were no longer there, she and her husband saw how they had weighed them down and complicate their lives.“There was so much stuff we never used and that was just taking up space. We vowed when we started over, we?d

47、replace only what we needed, and this time we ?d do it right.We?ve kept our promise: we don ?t have much now, but what we have is exactly what we want. ”Though we?ve never had a catastrophic loss such as that, Gibbs and I did have a close call shortly before we decided to simplify. At that time we l

48、ived in a fire zone. One night a firestorm rages throughand destroyed oversixhundred homes in our community.That tragedy gave us the opportunity to look objectively at the goods we?d accumulated.We saw that there was so much we could get rid of and only never miss, but be better off without.Having a

49、lmostlost it all, we found it much easierto let go of the things we knewwe ?d never use again.Obviously, there ?s a tremendous difference between getting rid of possessions and losing themthrough a natural disaster without having a say in the matter. And this is not to minimize the tragedy and pain

50、such a loss can generate.But you might think about how you would approach the acquisition process if you had it to do all over again. Look around your home and make a list of what you would replace.Make another list of things you wouldn ?t acquire again no matter what, and in fact would be happy to

51、be rid of.When you ?re ready to start unloading some of your stuff, that list will be a good place to start.Many people whose possessions were destroyed in natural disasters eventually considered their loss.Now that all their possessions were lost in the fire, the woman and her husband felt that the

52、ir lives had been.What do we know about the author ?s house from the sentence “Gibbs and did have a closecall .(”Line 1-2, Para. 4)?According to the author, getting rid of possessions and losing them through a natural disaster are vastly.What does the author suggest people do with unnecessary things

53、?Section BPassage One Questions 52 to 56In a purely biological sense, fear begins with the body?s system for reacting to things that can harm us the so-called fight-or-flight response.“An animal that can ?t detect danger can?t stay alive, ” says Joseph LeDoux.Likeanimals, humans evolved withan elabo

54、rate mechanism for processing informationabout potential threats. At its core is a cluster of neurons ( 神 经 元 )deep in the brain known as the amygdale (扁桃核 ).LeDoux studies the way animals and humans respond to threats to understand how we form memories of significant events in our lives. The amygda

55、le receives input from many parts of the brain, including regions responsible for retrieving memories. Using this information, the amygdale appraisesa situation I think this charging dog wants to bite me and triggers a response by radiating nerve signals throughoutthe body. These signals producethe

56、familiarsigns ofdistress: trembling,perspiration and fast-moving feet, just to name three.This fear mechanism is critical to the survival of all animals, but no one can say for sure whether beasts other than humans know they ?re afraid. That is, as LeDoux says,“if you put that system into a brain th

57、at has consciousness, then you get the feeling of fear. ”Humans, says Edward M. Hallowell,have the abilityto callup images of bad things that happened in the past and to anticipate future events. Combine these higher thought processes with our hardwired danger-detection systems, and you get a near-u

58、niversal human phenomenon: worry.That?s not necessarily a bad thing, says Hallowell.“When used properly, worry is an incredible device, ”he says. After all, a littlehealthy worrying is okay if it leads to constructive action likehaving a doctor look at that weird spot on your back.Hallowell insists,

59、 though, that there?s a right way to worry.“Never do it alone, get the facts and then make a plan.”He says. Mostof us have survived a recession, so we?re familiarwiththe belt-tightening strategies needed to survive a slump.Unfortunately, few of us have much experience dealing with the threat of terr

60、orism, so it ?s been difficult to get fact about how we should respond. That?s why Hallowell believes it was okay for people to indulge some extreme worries last fall by asking doctors for Cipro ( 抗炭疽菌的药物 ) and buying gas masks.The “so-called fight-or-flight response ” L(ine 2, Para. 1) refers to “